Moc, či bezmoc kulturního průmyslu?
The Culture Industry - Powerful or Powerless?

Summary/Abstract: The article compares two concepts of production and reception of cultural products: One of Theodor W. Adorno - the culture industry concept of the 1940s, and then approach represented by the model of two economies introduced by John Fiske in his 1987 book, Television Culture. Having outlined Adorno´s theory of the culture industry, I demonstrate the political potential of the masses , creativity and taste deliberaly limited by the culture industry in order to maintain profit and power for the ruling classes. Producers provide the modes for appropriation, schematize, pattern and pre-form audience´s experience and then they just supply the audience with material. In Adorno´s view, culture industry promotes homogenity, standardization, conservatism and pseudo-individualization designed to provide just enough novelty to disguise the formula. In contrast, John Fiske´s two economies of culture industry show that 1) financial economy works roughly in way outlined by Adorno, but 2) in cultural economy, audiences are capable of producing oppositing readings of served texts: they choose from the repertoire offered by the culture industry, and as such are not likely to be so easily manipulated. In Fiske´s view, the constant struggle within cultural economy means that elites attempt to control subordinated masses, but these find way to resist, create meanings, pleasures and social intentities and as such, are ahead of the culture industry in the cultural field.

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